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| The Windows |
Whatever is new will always be full of unexpected and making life full of excitement. You don't know what to expect and what is in store for you! All you can do is to hope for the best and to prepare for the worst! But most of all....just be prepared!
Well, that was how I was on this maiden voyage. Our first dinner at The Windows was an unforgettable one. A member of our group prefered early dinner....preferably before 7p.m. She said it is good for the digestive system and you can sleep well at night. So be it. We trusted her and of cause, it is a fact.....medically! Thank you my dear friend. We owe you one. That was a lesson to be learnt. If it s good for our health, we should follow!
So we went to the restaurant and the supervisor was a Hondurus gentleman named Mr Abercio Matute. A very nice, funny and very understanding and helpful indeed. He understood us the minute he saw us ladies with scarfs. He knew of our concerned with food. So that evening he took charge and ordered lobsters for us. Then unexpectedly told us that we need not worry anymore about our food because he will arrange special meal for us every evening throughout the cruise! To make things easier for him, we wrote down the recipes and suggested menus for the evenings. We received a memo from the management of food and beverages department regarding our concern and that shows how sensitive they are towards the needs of their guests. It made us feel nice!
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| Mr Abercio Matute |
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| The Lobster....yummy! |
As we were waiting for our meal, suddenly we realized that our ship moved. The restaurant has windows on the port and starboard sides and high big framed windows on the aft. In Maritime Terminology, Port means the left side of forward motion and the Starboard means the right side of the forward motion. Aft means the rear of the ship.Through the aft window , we saw a tugboat pulling the ship (75,388 GT) out of the dock! Amazing! I have read about tugboats and just cannot imagine how such a small boat as that able to pull a very much bigger ship! Ya Allah! Truly amazing!
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| Tugboat in action. |
Announcement was made by the Captain, a Croation and we set sail. We have to say goodbye to Barcelona, the city where the 1992 Summer Olympic was held. Even though we managed a short visit around the city, it is a beautiful place to visit. Purchased some T Shirts at Hard Rock Cafe and some fridge magnets as evidence! For at least, I have visited the famous Barcelona and hope to revisit someday.
Our dinner started with a bowl of Brocolli Soup in Cheese and a plate of Garden Salad with the dressing of our choice. Then came our main dish...The Lobster! Lobster is very expensive back home, so we truly enjoyed the meal very much!
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| The Garden Salad |
We ended our dine for the night with a desert....ice cream of different flavours. Thank you very much to all the chefs and a very special thanks to Mr Abercio Matute. Now we all are looking forward for the menus for the next eleven evenings!
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Desert
These are some of the food prepared for us. Thank you! |
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| Omelette |
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| Fried Mix Vege |
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| Steam fish fillet |
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| Seafood Fried Rice |
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Fish curry
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We don't practice fine dining. What is served is what we eat. So in other words, no time wasted. While the food are still hot, we finished it quickly. After dinner, we watched the sun set. It was the most beautiful moment to see the horizon swallowed the big red ball. That was around 9p.m. The last light from the sun before it disappeared completely is the most watched. I just love the sunset. That reminded us of our responsibilities towards Allah. Every now and then we have to change our directions of the qiblah (direction of Mekah) to perform our solah Jamaq Taqdim Qasar or Jamaq Takhir Qasar for Maghrib and Isyaa. A compass is a necessity to be sure of the direction because we are Mussaffir (travellers).
Finally........all is well. Alhamdulillah.
